Decommissioning crews at Scotland’s shuttered Dounreay nuclear facility are using a household putty solution to gather metal samples from the base of the site’s Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR).
In a press release Monday, organizers described how they forewent a new design and build project in favor of attaching Blu-Tack to the end of a long, flexible rod, which is used to take samples from holes drilled in the PFR. The PFR design team claims that the Blu-Tack, a putty-like solution typically used for hanging household items, has resulted in “substantial saving” for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which oversees the site. The rod was driven about 10 meters into the ground, where metal samples clung to the Blu-Tack. It’s common for decommissioning crews to have to find unique ways of reaching remote areas inside former nuclear reactors.
“We are sixty years on from the decision to build the Prototype Fast Reactor and innovation has been the key to its success,” Calder Bain, a member of the PFR design team, said in Monday’s announcement. “There is a continual requirement for inventive methods to dismantle a complex nuclear reactor. The nature of the decommissioning work at Dounreay gives both our young and experienced engineers the opportunity to put their innovative skills and knowledge into practice.”
The PFR ceased operation in 1994, nearly 20 years after the Dounreay Fast Reactor shut down. The defueling program started in 2001, and decommissioning of Dounreay is presently scheduled for 2030.
